Dan Wilson has written or co-written hit Semisonic songs Closing Time, Adele’s Someone Like You and The Chicks’ Not Ready to Make Nice, but he doesn’t analyze his work. “I’ve never thought, ‘I have a knack for writing songs,’” he says. “It feels like a pure expression of who I am, rather than something I do well – or poorly!”
That knack for expression served him well in the ‘90s – but without his wife, Closing Time might not have been a hit. “We were trying to decide what the first single from the album would be,” he explains. “Diane and I listened through the whole record. She said, ‘If you want to stay indie rock, put out Never You Mind. But if you want to go big, it’s Closing Time. And I think it’s time for you guys to go big.’ She was totally right.”
He reflects: “That song continues to change my life all the time. I would never in a million years have imagined that they’d still be playing it in bars in 2026.”
What got you hooked on guitar?
I’d been taking piano lessons since second grade. When I got to eighth grade I met a few kids who owned acoustic guitars. They’d play folk rock in the halls between classes – and during them. So I asked my parents about getting a guitar. They bought me and my brother Matt a cheap acoustic to share when I was 13. I’ve never stopped playing. We were writing songs from the minute we owned that guitar.
Your early band was Trip Shakespeare – how did you end up there?
It was a trio Matt started with bassist John Munson and drummer Elaine Harris. They’d made an album with Matt playing two guitar tracks on every song; I think they were panned hard left and hard right. Matt asked me to join so they had someone to play the right-speaker parts.
It turned into a democracy although it had started as Matt’s vision. The frustration of having the band decide everything together was tough for him. On the other hand, it was a big part of why our jams were legendary.
How did Semisonic form?
I started Semisonic with John Munson and Jacob Slichter to make demos of the songs I was writing on my own and with Jake. We’d record in Jake’s basement on a Tascam DA-88, and we’d learn cool covers so we could play shows. That organically developed into Semisonic. John was hesitant to commit to it being a working band, but I think the songs were pretty convincing.
What sort of guitars and amps did you use on Semisonic’s debut, The Great Divide?
I was playing my Lace Sensor Strat a lot, although we rented a bunch of other guitars. I remember playing a Danelectro electric sitar on Temptation. And there was a Les Paul of some kind that made its way onto the album.
I played through a Peavey 5150 on a lot of the tracks. I also used an amazing-sounding old Fender Deluxe a lot. That was the first time I understood, ‘This is what it feels like to play a great amp!’ That Deluxe is like a holy grail that I’ve been looking for ever since.
Nick complained the pedal sounded ‘irritating’ and I knew what he meant – but I was so excited about it
The Great Divide got great reviews. Did you feel confident going into Feeling Strangely Fine?
I was happy about the reviews, but I thought it was more mainstream than it really was. MCA didn’t sell very many copies. Going into Feeling Strangely Fine I was very confident in my songwriting and guitar playing, and I was getting more confident in my singing.
But my mindset was, ‘Let’s make an art record.’ We’d tried being more pop and it was received as an art project. So, this time I thought ‘Let’s double down and make our Abbey Road’ – complete freedom to experiment with the studio as an instrument.
Tell us about the writing and recording of Closing Time.
I wrote it in about 20 minutes in my living room in Minneapolis, and I wrote the bridge while demoing it with John and Jake a week or so later. I wrote about 60 songs during the run-up to the recording sessions. For us, Closing Time was just one of many.
What gear did you use whilst recording the track?
At that time I was still playing my Strat, but I wrote all the songs on acoustic guitar. In the studio, our producer Nick Launay convinced me to use other guitars. John Kukor, the owner of Seedy Underbelly, where we recorded a lot of our songs, had a huge collection of amazing amps, guitars, and recording gear, and we used a lot of it.
I played Closing Time on two guitars and two amps: a late-50s Gretsch Silver Jet, and a 1959 Black Beauty Les Paul – that’s probably worth a quarter of a million dollars now! I played the Silver Jet through a ‘90s Soldano 100-watt and the Les Paul through a Marshall Plexi 100 from the ‘60s.
The lead guitar track featured my brand-new Z.Vex Fuzz Factory distortion pedal. Zach Vex brought it to my birthday party in 1996; serial number 005. I used it on Closing Time, Completely Pleased, All Worked Out and California. It was a new sound for me, so I used it as much as I could.
Nick Launay complained it sounded “irritating” and I knew what he meant – but I was so excited about it! So he rose to the challenge and made it sound huge. I think it was generally a new way to use fuzz in a pop song, and I’m proud that. I thank Zach regularly for bringing me that pedal. I think it sounds incredible on California, even now.
Singing In My Sleep and Secret Smile were hits too.
Singing In My Sleep was the other song I brought to John and Jake’s basement to demo with Closing Time. I’d written it about a couple of very influential mixtapes I’d received, including one from Diane.
Alternative rock was getting more and more harsh – a radio soundtrack for current or would-be bullies
Secret Smile came to me in a dream. I woke up in the early morning with a song running through my head. I think I’d been dreaming about writing the song. I went to my Wurlitzer electric piano to play it, wrote down the words and chords, and fell back asleep. Next morning I saw my notes and sang the song to myself – and it was incredible!
There was a whole great verse and a whole great chorus. I wrote another verse and a bridge and the song was done. I spent months playing it for friends and asking them, “Have you heard this before?” Everyone would say, “No, that sounds like a new Dan song.”
Long after that, I learned that Paul McCartney had almost the exact same experience writing Yesterday. One difference between me and Sir Paul is that my dream included most of the lyrics - Sir Paul had to spend a few months writing lyrics for Yesterday. So I had an easier time with my dream-written song!
Where was your head at when you recorded All About Chemistry, and what got you into solo music after that?
All About Chemistry was a rough time for me. Our daughter Coco had come home from hospital with a tracheostomy, oxygen tanks, and 24-hour nursing to operate her breathing machines. Diane and my marriage had become one gigantic and terrifying medical adventure – call it newborn baby plus PTSD.”
I was about to make another album for MCA, the label which had rejected Feeling Strangely Fine as having ‘no singles,’ and I had zero trust in their ability to hear the value in what we did.
The label was essentially telling us to get something, anything, done, because their research was showing that our fans were forgetting us at an alarming rate. I didn’t care about those knuckleheads’ research, but I knew all upcoming decisions about the band would be steered by it.
I love many of those songs, but as we got gentler and more loving, alternative rock music was getting more and more harsh, misogynistic, blustering – a radio soundtrack for current or would-be bullies. Our single Chemistry chimed with bright piano and jangly Telecaster guitars. It didn’t sound right coming before or after Nookie, Spit it Out or Kim.
I thought what would happen next would be a solo album, do a tour, and get back into it with John and Jake. But it didn’t work out that way.
Elsewhere, you’ve co-written hit songs like Not Ready to Make Nice with The Chicks and Someone Like You with Adele.
35,000 Minnesotans sang along to Closing Time, Singing in My Sleep and Don’t Give Up Yet – one of my peak experiences
Not Ready to Make Nice happened during a two-day session. We got together at The Village Studio in Santa Monica. On the first day we had quite an uproarious time – lots of laughter, and much tea spilled. We wrote It’s So Hard When it Doesn’t Come Easy about being a parent to a hard-won child. All of us had some kind of experience with that.
Earlier in the day The Chicks had showed me a lot of the songs on their album. I left feeling like they could use a song that addressed their blacklisting by the Bush administration head-on. In the morning, in the hotel room with my guitar in hand, I thought of the title ‘I’m Not Ready to Make Nice.’
It was something my prairie-raised mom would say if you angered her or hurt her feelings and didn’t give her enough time to cool down. But the whole story of the song and the recording sessions would be an entire interview!
What’s next for Semisonic, and for you?
Semisonic has had a very adventurous year. John had a stroke 18 months ago and has now recovered well enough to be able to play the bass. So, we put him – and me and Jake – to work recording our latest single, Don’t Give Up Yet. It’s dedicated to my people in Minneapolis and their heroic actions supporting and protecting their neighbors against the ICE invasion.
Since then, we played a heartwarming theater show in Minneapolis this summer, then the huge MN Yacht Club festival. There were 35,000 Minnesotans who sang along to Closing Time, Singing in My Sleep, and Don’t Give Up Yet – one of the top five peak experiences I’ve had with my band.
I’ve been co-writing and producing a lot of songs over the past few years, so I’m sure a lot of tracks will be coming out.
- Keep up with Wilson’s progress via his website.
